The following five core ideas explain how learning organizations function as wholes. The core ideas are central when school is examined as a learning organization. Personal mastery, mental models, team learning, shared visions and system thinking offer different angles to examine the organization. (1) Personal mastery. Without personal commitment,…

Teachers' ways of knowing tend to be understood through academic ways of thinking and writing. This article sets out to take a closer look at the way seven school teachers understand and describe how they know, reflect, and act in the midst of teaching. In particular, through the combined voices of these teachers I aim to take a closer look at the…

Over three years this study investigated the use of an asynchronous web-based conference to facilitate the reflective thinking of 35 intern teachers using a conceptual framework from the literature on teacher reflection, computer-mediated communication, and social cognition. Content analysis of the interns' online messages revealed significant…

In the Web site of Students for Academic Freedom (SAF), an organization committed to fighting political indoctrination in higher education, a complaint center allows students to report instances of ideological bias. With SAF chapters at more than 180 campuses nationwide and legislation about students' academic freedom under discussion in several…

For decades a substantial body of research on teacher reflection and action has been conducted. This research contains a wealth of information on teachers' thinking about their daily work in classrooms. But what do these studies tell us about the linkage between thought and action in actual teaching? How do they contribute to our understanding, or…

The process of teaching is complex and multidimensional. Teaching behaviors and actions are shaped by numerous cognitive decisions made by the teacher before, during, and after instruction. This article examines teacher cognition across the broad field of education and, more specifically, physical education in teacher planning, instruction, and…

Multitudes of language teaching practice shows that great attention drawn to language learning can help language teachers better their teaching and give appropriate learning support to language learners. A critical analysis of the author's English language learning experience is given in the paper, encompassing the approaches used, the role of the…

At a regional Australian university, a Learning Circle approach was implemented with a small group of first year education students who identified themselves as "at risk" of failure in the tertiary context. As part of their participation in weekly meetings, the students engaged in discussion, reflection and problem-solving related to…

The purpose of this paper is to report on the elementary and secondary school experiences of first year classroom teachers who participated in the Northern State University Teacher Induction Program during the 2007-2008 school year. Most of the participants were primarily employed as classroom teachers in large and small schools across South…

This paper gives an overview of the ideas generated in a course taught by a Canadian academic to American students on the subject of teaching in the post-9/11 period. The four major topics discussed are the technological context in which modern societies are situated, particularly the evolution from agrarian to industrial and now knowledge-based…

The focal concern of this article is the investigation of the transfer and sustainability of the reflective process into the work environment. Specifically, the identification of the variables which support or challenge practitioners to continue the ongoing process of reflection in practice contexts is addressed. The article describes a study…

This article explores whether using reflective dialogue in action learning sets on a foundation degree (FD) in educational support can develop the capacity for reflective practice of the students. Developing a reflective stance in relation to professional practice is a central theme of the programme, which is reinforced by the work-based learning…

This article considers the value of collaborative forms of educational action research in higher education and the difficulties involved in implementing such forms of research. It is argued that educational action research represents an opportunity for improving teaching and learning and developing the knowledge and skills of those participating…

In architectural design education, students develop drawing, conceptual, and critical skills which are informed by their ability to reflect upon the production of ideas in design processes and in the urban, environmental, social, historical, and cultural context that define architecture and the built environment. Reflective actions and thinking…

This article is documentation of the personal professional reflection processes as well as staff discussions reflecting the staff's ongoing efforts to improve the quality of teaching in the teacher education programme at the University of Bergen. The documentation is two-dimensional: video clips have been inserted into the traditional text form.…